Slowly Broken
The third and final site visit of the Rustenburg Backyard Shack Survey took place this past weekend in Rustenburg North, a centrally located suburb built in the early 1900s for the white mine managers of the local platinum mines. Over the the course of the last 20 years, 'white-flight' from the inner ring suburbs of Rustenburg to the newly developed eastern fringe of the city has been accompanied by an influx of black residents into the central areas that during the apartheid era were earmarked for whites only. For the most part, this is a typical feature of South African post apartheid settlement dynamics. In some instances, up to 25 backyard shacks have been built on the 1/2 acre properties that characterise the neighborhood. Landlord absenteeism and apathy over conditions on their properties has allowed Rustenburg North to slowly degrade, causing a consistent decline in property values and service standards.


